Catherine Quan Damman

The most transformational effort in my primary discipline is Critical Race Art History. I believe it is imperative that we develop curricula that are not merely additive or revisionist, but rather use the imperative to diversify as a catalyst to profoundly revisit the field’s foundational questions and organizing principles. Concepts such as mastery, familiarity, strangeness, taste, and beauty are formed by historical conditions of domination and subjugation, and the histories of material production and cultural expression are fundamentally entwined with the circuits of colonialism and racialized regimes of power. Art history has too long treated race as a secondary consideration, rather than a primary question; Critical Race Art History is the future of the field.